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This is a story from EMS Magazine. Good reason to check your equipment every day.

Dead Defib, Dead Patient Equals $3.2M Award Against Chicago

The family of a 49-year-old man who died of a heart attack after a
defibrillator on the Chicago Fire engine sent to resuscitate him did not
work -- because the batteries hadn't been replaced -- will receive $3.2
million under a settlement advanced Monday by a City Council committee.

Frederick Partyka, a stationary engineer who worked for the city, was using
a snow blower in front of his home in the 2700 block of North New England
when he collapsed on Jan. 22, 2005.

Partyka's son, a paramedic with the Hillside Fire Department, witnessed the
incident, called 911 and administered CPR to his father while waiting for
help.


When the fire engine arrived at 3:16 p.m., the paramedic found Partyka in
ventricular tachycardia, a life-threatening condition. But when the
paramedic attempted to shock Partyka's heart back into rhythm, the
defibrillator didn't work, a lawyer for the Partyka family said. The
batteries were old and did not hold a charge.


When the old batteries were replaced with spare batteries, the defibrillator
powered off again, the lawyer said. At 3:22 p.m., an ambulance arrived with
a working defibrillator. But it was too late. Partyka was already dead.


"The industry standard required -- and the manufacturer recommended -- that
this particular defibrillator battery had to be replaced every two years,"
said Susan Schwartz, an attorney representing the Partyka family.


"But, on Jan. 22, 2005, no battery had been purchased by the city since
October 2000. They didn't properly maintain the batteries for these
defibrillators."


During Monday's Finance Committee meeting, First Deputy Corporation Counsel
Karen Seimetz told aldermen that the defibrillators used on that day were
replaced in March 2005. The new version uses batteries "automatically
changed out with the manufacturer every two years," she said.


"In the thousands and thousands and thousands of times these defibrillators
have been used, this is the first known instance where this has ever
occurred," she said.


Under questioning from aldermen, Seimetz acknowledged that no one knows
whether a working defibrillator would have saved Partyka.


But, she said, "The problem is under the law, if there's any percentage
chance that a person could have survived but for the alleged negligence,
that's enough to recover [damages]. Even though he had an underlying heart
disease, this might have made the difference. There was no damage to the
heart on autopsy."